Paul Vitti (De Niro) is a high-ranking mafia member, involved in organizing the first nationwide summit since 1957. The Mafia is under threat by the FBI, as well as by their Chinese and Russian rivals in organized crime. Vitti also has to avoid assassination attempts by young upstarts. Meanwhile, psychiatrist Ben Sobel (Crystal) is agonizing over his problematic relationship with his son, how boring his patients are and his upcoming second marriage.

When Vitti starts having panic attacks, a first in his life, he deems psychiatric help is in order. Sobel is the lucky psychiatrist chosen for the job. Sobel's life is more or less taken over by his needy patient, who has no problem having his thugs regularly abduct Sobel for their sessions. More trouble comes into his life when the FBI decides to turn the psychiatrist into their newest informant.

The film is well-regarded for its partly serious and partly humorous look at the stress and depression of De Niro's character. It was also a commercial hit and received a sequel, Analyze That (2002). While not a complete flop, the second film was a critical failure, killing the idea of another sequel.

Blackand Gray Morality: Paul Vitti is a criminal, a criminal with issues, but still a criminal, but the FBI agents are pretty unscrupulous too, threatening Doc Sobel and altering a recording of Vitti defending Sobel so it would sound like he was plotting to kill him, in order to get Sobel to wear a wire.

Celebrity Paradox: Skirted. Sobel has a dream where he and Vitti re-enact the scene in The Godfather where Vito Corleone is gunned down while buying fruit, with himself as Vito and Vitti as Fredo. Recounting this dream to Vitti the next day, Vitti comments that it was a good scene from the movie. Which sounds very odd coming out of the mouth of Robert de Niro, who portrayed the younger Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, and both he and Marlon Brando won Oscars for their respective performances.

CIA Evil, FBI Good: Downplayed. The FBI are trying to catch criminals, but they do engage in questionable conduct. See above.

Confess in Confidence: Vitti opens up to Sobel about his stress-related problems, both in his professional and personal life.

How Vitti's henchman Jelly avoided jail time in one case — a witness "stabbed himself in the back four times and threw himself off a bridge."

Later mocked when a would-be assassin is thrown out of the penthouse window (during Sobel's wedding no less):

Vitti: It was probably suicide. Jelly, have they found a suicide note yet? Jelly: No, but they will. (starts to write)Sobel: Oh, let me guess! "LIFE IS BULLSHIT! I CAN'T FUCKING TAKE IT ANYMORE! SIGNED, THE DEAD GUY!" Jelly:That's agood idea.

Deconstructive Parody: Of the gangster genre and the adverse effects living like a criminal will produce.

Dead Man Switch: If anyone kills Vitti, his documents on the other mobsters will go public.

Destination Defenestration: An assassin sent to kill Paul in Miami ends up receiving this. And crashes into Sobel's wedding below...

And later, Doc Sobel gets the same treatment for filming a scene in the Show Within a ShowLittle Caesar.

Humiliation Conga: What dignity Vitti retains at the end of the movie is utterly destroyed at the beginning of the second as he clowns in front of the other prisoners to keep them from trying to kill him.

"I'm Primo Siddone. They call me Sonny Long. Some of you know me as Mikey Gaga. Some of you know me as Joey Boombatz."

Then parodied when Sobel tries to imitate Primo while introducing himself. Apparently, he's also "Benny the Groin", "Sammy the Schnoz", "Elmer the Fudd", "Tubby the Tuba", and on one occasion "Miss Phyllis Levine".

I Have This Friend...: Vitti tries this, but it doesn't work. When Sobel "sees through it" he seems fascinated.

Indulgent Fantasy Segue / Daydream Surprise: Sobel's fantasy of telling a patient exactly what he thinks of her. The sequel has him doing this at his father's funeral, although from what his wife comments his actual eulogy failed to totally hold back.

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